Chapter 4

Burning Down the House

"Burning down the house, here's your ticket, pack your bag, time for jumping overboard, transportation is here"

The Witwickys, they decided, were very strange creatures. This, coming from the crazy artist genius and his slightly amnesiac alien friend, was not a good thing. It was also the consensus of all those who had met the family.

Neither of them could be blamed when the first thing they heard upon turning into the family's driveway and turning off the news station which was babbling something about a gas leak in Shanghai was, "Yeah, Okay, I'll stop. You carry this shit!" from an apparently angry woman, Judy Witwicky, who turned and stormed back toward her home.

Her husband simply stood there, dumbfounded before simply muttering, "Wow."

"You know what?" said Judy, turning to face Ron, completely steamrolling over his muttered reply, "I don't want to go anywhere with you. I don't wanna go to France with you. I don't wanna go around the corner with you!"

The Charger idled as she turned to her companion, "Is this normal human behavior?"

"No, not really," said Gabriel as he watched the spectacle the older Witwickys made.

The holoform tilted her head, "Why is she wearing-?" She cut herself off as a wave of AllSpark energy took her by surprise. Acting on instinct instilled by millennia in battle, she opened a comm. line to Bee: Did you feel that?:

:Yeah. It felt like- but it can't be, I watched it disintegrate.: He was startled enough to use his real voice, grating and hoarse though it was. Gabe listened to the conversation through the radio, ready to ask what they were talking about when the sound of shouts distracted him. He looked up in time to see Sam jump out of his window, run across the roof and jump down, at which point he was followed out by two, well, he wasn't sure what they were but he was sure they were shooting at anything that moved.

Unfortunately, since his ride had kicked him out the second the screaming started, he was one of the things that moved.

He dove behind the fountain with Sam and his father, ducking as the things shot at them. They must have had terrible aim because they only succeeded in splashing water on them. Sam's father leaned over and yelled, "What was that?!" and, even though it was as loud as a battlefield out here, Gabe did not appreciate the man yelling in his ear like that. Of course he got a similar treatment when Sam screamed back, his voice cracking and going higher just because Gabe was that hated by the universe, "That's the whole kitchen!"

Another shot landed in the fountain and Gabe couldn't take it anymore, leaning forward and screaming, "Striker!" just as Sam did the same and yelled for Bumblebee for all he was worth. Strikezone came roaring around the side of the house as the yellow Camaro mowed down the wall of the garage. They made a pretty action scene, transforming at the same time and ending up back to back and shooting at the tiny robotic menaces that continued to pour from Sam's room. And if it looked like they were having just a bit too much fun, well, no one said anything.

Of course it was Mrs. Witwicky who broke the silence that was quickly descending into the realm of awkward. She came screaming out of the house just as the gunshots died off and ran into one of the many potted plants she had hanging from the porch. Her husband's ensuing panic started a chain of events that somehow ended with Gabriel and Striker in the Witwicky's two car garage with a sulking Bumblebee.

"I've got the odd feeling that that was normal around here," and of course it was Gabe that broke the silence, it was always him. He looked at the crouched yellow robot in front of him and the Charger behind him revved, snickering before saying, "If it's anything like the Ark, that's the tip of the iceberg," and he was abruptly reminded how not normal life had become in the last two days.

Because the best friend he's had in years and her kick-ass car had turned out to be one-in-the-same and a giant robot-turned-car from another planet to boot. Gabriel's older brother may be a mad scientist but he'd bet his favorite sketch book that Daniel had never even dreamed of something like this.

The Charger- Wren- Strikezone- revved again and he was very abruptly forced to stand up straight as it backed out. "Hey! You could give a guy some warning, you know!"

"I could, but where's the fun in that? Besides, I think the car and his boy would like some alone time." That was when he noticed a very determined looking Sam and a beautiful brunette approaching them. Gabriel threw up his hand when they got closer and said, "Hey Sam and…" he trailed off, looking over at the girl.

"Mikaela," she said, her china-blue eyes narrowing slightly.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Gabriel," he said, pouring on the Southern charm and tipping an imaginary hat. He may not have been interested, but it was fun to screw with people. This girl, she knew his game and obviously played it like a pro, smiling coyly as she said, "You go on in, Sam. I think I'll stay out here and have a little chat."

Gabe leaned back again, jumping onto the hood to make sure he didn't fall this time, and watched the girl as she walked over to the motorcycle she had leaned against the wall of the garage. "I know your type."

"Oh?" he said. She wasn't facing him, rummaging through the bag on her bike.

"You're bad intentions walking. I also know you're not actually interested. Not in me, at least. Just don't fuck with Sam and we'll be alright." As she said this, she stripped out of the leather jacket and pants she had been wearing, revealing a pretty little strapless white dress. "So we're good, we understand each other?" she said while putting on a pair of matching heels and waiting until he nodded. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Mikaela grabbed the purple bouquet from her seemingly endless bag and stood in front of the door as a frowning Sam came out. He immediately perked up at the sight of her and grinned, pulling her off to the side.

"Weird girl. Smart, though," he murmured to Striker (it was still weird thinking of her like that) and her idling engine rumbled in agreement before she said, "Dumb boy." Bumblebee poked his head out, careful of the ignorant humans still milling around and nodded, his radio crackling to life and playing "Stupid in love…"

"Get back inside, scraplet. You know as well as I do that our superiors are not fond of full disclosure and I doubt they would be happy with you exposing us because you didn't want to sit in a garage by yourself." His head quickly disappeared behind the curtain that the firefighters had hung and Gabe could hear the smirk in Striker's voice as she said, "Exactly. See you tomorrow little bro."

Gabe stood up and patted the hood saying, "Come on. You said you wanted to take a road trip to Princeton and I've still got to grab my stuff from the house and tell my brother goodbye."

The passenger side door popped open and he didn't even comment this time, just sliding in and bracing himself for her insanely fast driving.

By the time he had gotten home, left a note for his mysteriously absent brother, and somehow managed to pack all seven of his suitcases in Striker's trunk and backseat, he had already concluded that this was going to be a long two days.

Let the games begin.

0o0

Songs used: Stupid in Love by Rihanna